Schools Cut Lunch Options for the Kids Who Cannot Pay

Feb 22 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The choices for those kids who cannot pay for lunch at school are becoming slim to none, as the economy forces those schools to cut deeply into their lunch budgets. For those families who cannot afford to pay around two dollars a day for their kids to eat lunch at school, those kids will be offered a cheese sandwich and a box of juice.

In many areas across America, including Lee County Florida, the school systems are adopting a new policy which no longer gives the “reduced and free lunch kids” the same meals as those who pay. This comes as many families in the country are falling below poverty level for the first time, putting a strain on the services available to low income families. Roughly sixty percent of American kids do not pay full price for their lunches anymore.

The policy used to be that when the cost of providing meals to these children became too high for the school district, then the price of school lunch for paying kids was raised. This new way of doing things could come up against a few obstacles, however, since the government has also introduced new nutritional guidelines which will require healthier, more expensive foods be offered to all kids…low income or not.